Renovations

​Main Farmhouse

​ When we first saw the 1930s farmhouse original to the property, my husband said, "Uh uh, no way." Truly, it was spectacularly ugly. It had few windows, two tiny living areas, two dark, pokey bed rooms, a horrifying addition of a laundry room, bedrrom combo and a kitchen that would strike fear into even those who NEVER learned to cook (sadly, me). I have been a designer for almost 30 years and have seen some truly bad projects, but I can usually see the little gem deep inside most buildings dying to get out. The project took well over 7 months on this house alone. We finished an old screened porch into a beautiful sunroom, combined two bedrooms into one lovely master, gutted the living room, foyer and a closet into a cozy library and totally reconfigured the bad addition. As it is now, the main house is a two bedroom just meant for us. It's spread out for entertaining but its main feature is the giant porch that overlooks the pastures where we live for at least 9 months a year. During the other three months, we let Eleanore the pig camp there in her sleeping bag.

The house had been wrapped in vinyl sometime in the 80s. We removed that and added antique windows and five new doors. We found an antique door that fit the front so that light now shines into the library. We installed a commercial metal roof, hardy plank siding and batten board, three big porches and painted it all a fresh white.

In taking out the walls between a closet, foyer and living room, our longsuffering builder, Dan, discovered that a support would be needed under the old floors. When he began investigating, he found literally tons of rocks that had been thrown under the house and used as support. He excavated and enough rock was recovered to completely build a two story fireplace. Floors were repaired and the library turned out to be one of our favorite rooms. Books are my friends and I am loathe to give up any of the worlds in which I've lived while reading them.

Kitchens are not my thing. I want a pretty place to open a bottle of wine and a box of crackers. I am delighted at how beautifully this kitchen turned out. One friend described our original kitchen as only fit for a sledgehammer, but I love it now with its bright cabinets and marble. We used my old desk as an island by screwing extra feet onto the bottom and an old library cabinet as extra pantry and cabinet storage.

Luckily, the dining room was easy. I was able to use my own dining room table by removing four leaves. I inherited so much china and crystal that it has filled the chiina pantry. We are using it in our wedding receptions.